Crested Guineafowl

The eastern crested guinea fowl is a blackish bird densely spotted with white and topped with a distinctive black crest. It measures around 50 cm in length and is native to East Africa. It was long treated as part of a single crested guinea fowl species that was split into three in 2022. Pairs are monogamous and probably bond for a long time. Courtship feeding is common, and the male may run several metres to present a morsel to the hen. The nest is a well-hidden scrape in long grass or under a bush.

About the crested guineafowl

The crested guineafowl is a ground-nesting African bird of the guineafowl family, Numididae, in the order Galliformes. It is named for the tuft of curly black feathers on its otherwise bare head. Crested guineafowl live in open forest, woodland, and forest-savanna mosaics south of the Sahara, and since 2022 they have been treated as three species.

For a long time, "crested guineafowl" referred to a single species with five subspecies. In 2022 the Clements checklist and the IUCN split it into three species, and the IOC World Bird List followed in 2023. Under that scheme the eastern crested guineafowl, Guttera pucherani, covers only the nominate form of East Africa. The western crested guineafowl (Guttera verreauxi) ranges from Guinea-Bissau to Cameroon, western Kenya, Zambia, and Angola, and the southern crested guineafowl (Guttera edouardi) runs from Tanzania to South Africa. "Crested guineafowl" is still used as the shared name for the group of three.

All three are built alike. They measure around 50 cm (20 in) long and weigh 721 to 1,543 g (1.6 to 3.4 lb), roughly the size of a pheasant. Males run slightly larger, but the sexes look much the same. The body plumage is black, densely covered in fine bluish-white spots, and the short, plain tail is spotted as well. The outer secondary flight feathers have creamy-white outer edges that form a pale stripe along the folded wing.

The crest is the giveaway. It is a cushion of stiff, curled black feathers up to 2.6 cm (1 in) long, sitting on a pad of fatty tissue on the crown. The rest of the head and upper neck are bare. In the East African nominate form the bare skin is cobalt blue with bright red sides to the face and a red chin. The other forms vary, with bare skin ranging from bluish slate to steel blue and patches of white, yellow, or red on the nape and throat. The bill is bluish grey, paling toward the tip, the eyes are brown, and the dark legs carry no spur, a trait shared by every guineafowl.

Behavior and diet

Crested guineafowl are social birds. For most of the year they live in flocks of 10 to 30, and occasionally a group reaches 50. These flocks break up when the breeding season begins. Foraging groups keep in touch with soft "chuk" notes, and a sharp "krek" is one of their typical calls. They are less vocal than the familiar helmeted guineafowl.

Their day follows a clear rhythm. Feeding starts at dawn, when the flock scratches through leaf litter on forest edges and in clearings. During the hottest midday hours they rest in dense undergrowth, take dust baths, or visit nearby water. At dusk they leave their feeding areas and fly up to roost in tall trees, usually returning to the same tree or one close by. This makes them a clearly diurnal bird.

The diet is broad: seeds, fruit, leaves, and invertebrates. Crested guineafowl often follow monkeys feeding in the treetops and pick up the fruit that drops to the ground. Guineafowl as a family also trail behind herds of large mammals, and they eat ticks, flies, locusts, scorpions, and other invertebrates. Crested guineafowl even swallow small snail shells, which work like the grit other birds use to grind food.

These are shy birds. Their presence in a forest is often known only from feathers left on a trail. When a predator disturbs them, they fly up into thick foliage and stay motionless until the danger passes. Wild guineafowl are strong fliers, with dark, aerobic breast muscles that let them stay airborne over long distances when pushed.

Pairs are monogamous, and the bonds are probably strong and long-lasting. Courtship feeding is common: a male may run several metres to a female to offer her a choice morsel. The nest is a shallow, well-hidden scrape among dry leaves in long grass or under a bush. A clutch is usually four or five eggs, occasionally up to eight. The eggs start out pale brownish-pink or buff and soon look spotted as they pick up dirt in the nest. Larger clutches of 10 to 14 eggs have been recorded, most likely laid by more than one female. The female incubates alone for 23 days, then both parents lead the chicks, and family groups join other crested guineafowl to form larger flocks.

Range and habitat

Taken as a group, crested guineafowl range widely across sub-Saharan Africa, from Guinea-Bissau in the west to Somalia in the east and south into eastern South Africa. The eastern crested guineafowl, in the narrow sense, lives from Somalia to Tanzania and on the islands of Zanzibar and Tumbatu.

Unlike many guineafowl, which favor open savanna or semi-desert, crested guineafowl are woodland birds. They use open forest, woodland, and the patchy mosaic where forest meets savanna. They feed along forest edges and in clearings and are sometimes seen beside roads that cut through wooded country. Guineafowl as a family are found only in Africa as wild birds, although the helmeted species has been introduced as a domestic bird on several other continents.

Crested guineafowl vs helmeted guineafowl

Both birds are black with white spots and both have bare heads, so they are easy to confuse at a glance. The head ornament is the quickest way to tell them apart. The helmeted guineafowl is also the guineafowl that has been domesticated and introduced on other continents.

A third bird, the plumed guineafowl (Guttera plumifera) of humid Central African forest, looks even more alike. It has a taller, straighter crest that is not curled and a fairly long wattle on each side of the bill. The names "crested" and "plumed" are often mixed up between these species.

Conservation status

Guttera pucherani is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. That rating comes from a 2016 assessment by BirdLife International, made before the 2022 split, when the name still covered all three crested guineafowl. Taken together, crested guineafowl are widespread across sub-Saharan Africa. Guineafowl in general face a constant threat from grass and bush fires, and flight is their most effective escape.